Chapter Eleven

Summary

This chapter is about engaging students in performance assessments and reflective learning. To start us off, the textbook starts by talking about the purpose and ways assesssments can be done on page 277. there are three different types of assessments: New teacher assessment, Student assessment, and Student self-assessment. New teacher assessment is a way for the employeer to see how well the teacher is doing their job, or to see if that person is ready to become a teacher. This is type of assessment is also helped by the Student assessment. The student assessment is very baisc in the sense it is something that all students have grown up with. Whether is was short answer or multiple choice, the students groaned and study until the late hours of the night for these types of assessments. This data is then used for two things: how well are the students processing the information, and how can the teacher change their teaching style to help. Finally we come to the Student self-assessment. This gives the student a chance to look at the assessment and say, "maybe I shouldn't have waited until the day of to student" or "Hey those flashcards helped a lot". This gives both teacher and student a chance to help each other and find the best route to success (pgs 277-278)

These three styles of assessment are all contected to each other though. Without one, you could not have any way of understnad what your students do or don't know. Or, perhaps, find out that you aren't ready to become a teacher because you didn't pass the General Knowledge test. These assessments are very annoying, but are very much needed in school so then everyone knows how they are doing, and where they can improve on things,

Next in the chapter we difital teaching portfolios. Which, on page 279, are defied as, "A collection of educational and professional materials stored in a electronic format. It serves as an organized collection of materials that shows a teacher's growth and development over time." While I understnad the purpose of this type of profile, I'm still not quite sure why it is so important or how it shows growth. I mean I understand the idea of organizing all the links or papers or videos that a teacher finds to use in class because it would be much easier than trying to remember a URL or bring a USB drive with them everywhere. However, the growth I'm still not so sure about. 

Something else the textbook mentions is the fact that many teachers seem to forget that their students have a voice and want to learn other things than what is on one test at the end of the year. By involving students in the learning, you get more motivation out of them because they choose to learn it, or creat it, or just research it (281). That is why I love the idea of democratic shools and classrooms, and hope I get to work in one. Democratic schools and classrooms are schools or classrooms that have an open conversation between a teacher and their students about the curriculm, or rules. or school climate. This can be over-run if the teacher doesn't control the environment. But letting the students have a say in using a powerpoint instead of just a lecture, or be allowed to work in group for a project is nothing too out of hand (pgs 281-284).

Tech Tools 11.2

Survey and Poll Resources and Apps

Online surveys and polls are great ways to get student opinion on something. It can be completly anonymous, so the students don't feel as pressured to put the "right" answer. Or they can log in wth an account and create some great discussion in class after the poll or survey has been looked at. 

I personally have used SurveyMonkey for nearly ever school project I have ever done. The website itself is an easy-to-use format, and very basic when it comes to setting up your survey or poll. There is no need to get to over-complecated on a survey. It doesn't have to look amazing with graphics coming out, or music playing in the background while they take the survey. The only negative thing about this site, is the limit amount of people who can respond to a survey. As our book state on page 287, only 100 responses per survey, This would not be good for multiple classes on the same subject, unless you made a seperate survey for each of your classes. 

Below is a screenshot of the SurveyMonkey app from my iPad!

Focus Question

1) What is performance assessment for teachers and for students?

A performance assessment for teachers can be seen in two types of assessments: New teacher assessment and Student assessment. These two forms of performance assessments look to see how well you did when teaching. The New teacher assessment looks to see if you are ready to become a teacher through your shadowing and as teacher in a classroom. Student assessment is pretty self-explanatory. It is given to students after a lesson or subject is either finish or reached a break. This is too see how much the students are learning, but also how well your teaching style has helped them learn the information (pg 277)

Reference

 Textbook- Maloy, Robert, Verock-O'Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.